Friday, August 31, 2012

WHATEVER YOU THINK OF THE DECADES-LONG DOPING CHARGES against Lance Armstrong, this is a tell-all piece from one man's perspective well worth reading. Anderson worked for the cycling champ for several years and has known him since they were both seventeen. I doubt you will ever think the same about Armstrong again. I won't. It begins:

I was Lance’s personal assistant for two years, during the height of his racing career. Do I think he cheated? Yep. But my real problem is something that diehard fans seem unable to grasp: the vengeful tactics he uses against people who tell the truth about him, on and off the bike.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

THERE ARE FEW THINGS THAT SCARE ME MORE THAN WALKING THROUGH THE SHOE DEPARTMENT of Dillards, Bloomies or Nordstroms and viewing some of the widow-maker super high heels and wedges on display and in fashion. Just looking at them makes my ankles hurt and lower back cringe.

I want to yell at the poor salespeople--- You're kidding, right? You actually sell these things with a straight face?

I've always been afraid of heights and somehow projecting myself into a pair of some of these outrageous contraptions sends a shudder of terror through all my senses. Who in heaven's name really wears these things? Dares to walk in them without feeling they're taking their life in their hands? Thinks they need them to be attractive to men?

Is wearing them a secret suicide wish?

Over the last few years I've read about a couple of female performers who tripped and fell on stage in super highs. But today reading the morning news, I read a story that made me terribly sad and should sound the alarm to all young women who think they're invincible, especially in non-sensible shoes:

POLICE EYE HIGH HEELS IN DEATH OF NYC WOMAN FOUND IN STAIRWELL

Published August 28, 2012
FoxNews.com

NEW YORK – Police are investigating the death of a New York City woman found bleeding from her neck in the stairwell of an apartment building.

Carlisle Brigham, 29, the daughter of a former city budget director, was discovered around 11 a.m. Monday by a tenant of the walk-up on Orchard Street in Manhattan.

The New York Post reported that the woman was dressed in white and wore “really high heels,” according to a resident inside the building.

Due to the amount of blood around her neck, investigators initially theorized that she was slashed, but it appears that it was an accident, the paper reported.

She possibly tripped on her high heels after a night of drinking with college friends, the Post reported. She reportedly shattered her chin on a step. An autopsy is pending.

One of the residents performed CPR on the woman, but was unable to revive her.

So there it is, drinking and walking in extreme heels can be hazardous to your health and even your life. A fall could happen in a stairwell, on a curb, crossing a street or on a dance floor, and sometimes it can be fatal. But by the Grace of God go any of us.

One of the great things about getting to my age is being able to use the word sensible with impunity to describe a myriad of daily choices from friends and shoes to clothes, exercise, eating and drinking. I hope this tragic 'freak' accident gives women with shoes like this in their closets enough pause to rethink this scary fashion trend and just say no!

Monday, August 27, 2012

BE THEY REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS, POLITICIANS as a rule regularly talk up the need to reduce government expenditure. In 2008, big spender Barack Obama spoke of his plan to address waste “line by line” in the federal budget, and it’s a certainty that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will reveal similar rhetoric in an effort to remove Obama from the White House.

Whether Romney and Ryan succeed or not is almost immaterial at this point, in that no matter who is in the Oval Office come 2013, government spending will go up. It always does, and this is true regardless of the political party in power. Though voters might wish otherwise, politicians arrive in Washington idealistic about spending cuts, but ultimately leave behind a government bigger than the one that existed upon their arrival.

My own theory has long been that politicians exist to spend money, thus explaining government’s consistent growth, but an excellent new book – Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind – by Mallory and Elizabeth Factor has forced me to rethink my position. Yes, politicians are wastrels, but it seems a major driver of their fiscal incontinence is a growing blob seemingly beyond their control: government employee unions.

As the authors put it, “Our government is no longer answering to the American people; it has new masters.” Quite scarily, those masters are not politicians; rather they’re the individuals who manipulate our elected officials with money and sometimes muscular threats, “These are the heads of government employee unions: the Shadowbosses.”

Sunday, August 26, 2012

PASTOR TIM KELLER OF REDEEMER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN MANHATTAN has just published a splendid little book-ette called the Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, The Path to True Christian Joy. This tiny little jewel is only 46 pages long but power-packed and concentrated with Gospel wisdom and interpretation for believers who are willing to look more closely at themselves. The book centers around a section of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians---1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7-21

So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[a] or the world or life or death or the present or the future —all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

The Nature of True Apostleship

4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Will be quoting from this little book for the next few weeks and hope you find it edifying as I do. The quote below is from the book's preface asking the question what is the root cause of human evil and dis-ease in the world?

Keller writes:

Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world today) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world.....this was called hubris---the Greek word meaning pride or too high a view of yourself. Traditionally that was given for why people misbehave.

But, in our modern western culture, we have developed an utterly opposite cultural consensus. The basis of contemporary education, the way we treat incarcerated prisoners, the foundation of most modern legislation and the starting point for modern counselling is exactly the opposite of the traditional consensus.

Our belief today---and it is deeply rooted in everything---is that people misbehave for lack of self-esteem and because they have too low a view of themselves.

A few years ago, there was an article in the NYT by psychologist Lauren Slater called 'The Trouble with Self-Esteem.' It wasn't a ground-breaking article or a bolt out of the blue. She was simply beginning to report what experts have known for years. The significant thing she says is that there is no evidence that low self-esteem is a big problem in society....She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that 'people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our biggest, most expensive social problems.

Today it is so deeply rooted in our psyche that lack of self-esteem is the reason why there is drug addiction, the reason why there is crime, wife beating and so forth. Slater says it is going to take forever for this view to change.

You see, the thing about the 'low self-esteem theory of misbehaviour' is that it is very attractive. You do not have to make any moral judgments (of right and wrong) in order to deal with society's problems. All you have to do is support people and build them up. In traditional cultures,, the way you dealt with these problems was that you clamped down on people and convicted them. You called them bad!

What is intriguing about this passage in 1 Corinthians is that it gives us an approach to self-regard, an approach to the self and way of seeing ourselves that is absolutely different from both traditional and modern contemporary cultures.

Utterly different. The three things Paul shows us in this passage are: 1)The natural condition of the human ego. 2) The transformed sense of self, brought about through the Gospel. 3) How to get that transformed sense of self.

So which is it that causes all the misery of mankind---too high or too low self-esteem? Stay tuned in coming weeks or buy this wonderful little primer in transformation.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

THIS IS A MAJOR GORGEOUS AND STRENUOUS HIKE---all 13.5-15 miles and 2,500' elevation gain of it. But today as I hiked with the incredibly fit Johnson City hikers, terrific as it was, I thought it was way too hot and humid for my taste.

It's a hike I will do again in cooler weather rather than August mainly because we climbed in blazing sun with no cloud or tree cover much of the way. I was so hot at times I had to take off some of my underwear which helped. You also have to carry tons of water.

Some of these hikers do extra electrolytes for sustained energy in this kind of heat and humidity. I plan to follow suit next time. Had to settle for a good, restorative Epson salt bath.

I'm sore and exhausted but feel great I was able to do this bun buster.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

LONG ON GRAINS, STARCHES AND SUGARS, SHORT ON PROTEIN AND WE WON'T EVEN TALK ABOUT THE KETCHUP

ON THE SURFACE, I KINDA LIKED MICHELE'S IDEA of serving kids healthy food at a White House state lunch to teach them how to eat better and counter the growing obesity problems in their families and America. No matter how much we're exercising, it appears we keep getting fatter, sicker and more diabetic and arthritic as a nation.

So the FLOTUS's heart is in the right place. Trouble is, she's bought THE BIG LIE of what healthy eating is supposed to be, propogated by the federal government no less and most health providers in the USA. What is that lie, you ask?

It's the lie about eating more 'healthy' whole grains, especially WHEAT, WHEAT and more wheat (now genetically engineered and hidden in EVERYTHING) and cutting out most fats and animal proteins. We've become a grain-fed obese, sick nation that can't get through the day without mainlining huge hits of sugar and massive caffeine to counter the ill, de-energizing effects of unhealthy grains.

Again this big lie is promulgated by Nanny government, Big PHARMA and the grain and wheat lobbies all the way to the big bank. It's a myth that's killing us, debilitating our children, causing soaring healthcare costs and chronic dependency on uppers, drugs and endless pain mediations---but thank God for Obamacare---right? Wrong.

Michelle Obama served a 'healthy meal' to kids today, attending the official “Kids’ State Dinner.” The event was held at the White House to promote the First Lady’s “Lets Move” anti-obesity initiative.

Here is the menu, which was assembled with winning recipes submitted by children for the contest. (via the pool report)

The menu: Kale Chips from the New York winner were placed on each table ahead of the appetizer, which was Quinoa Black Bean and Corn Salad from the Arizona winner. The entree was “Yummy Cabbage Sloppy Joes” (with ketchup) from the Kansas winner, accompanied by Baked Zucchini Fries from the North Carolina winner. Dessert was two recipes: A Strawberryana Smoothie from the Hawaii winner; and a “Summer Fruit Garland” from the South Dakota winner, which was chunks of fruit on a wooden skewer.

In essence, Michele has just promoted the very thing she is trying to prevent.

While I like the kale chips and the baked zucchini 'fries,' I think the rest of the meal is way too heavy in fattening, starchy grains: quinoa black beans, corn salad and lots and lots of wheat around the cabbage entre.

This appears to be a vegetarian meal heavy on grains, though I couldn't find the recipe for the so called 'yummy' cabbage sloppy joes. I hope there was some meat in them. But if not, these kids left the lunch at least a pound heavier with far too much starchy grains and beans and terribly fattening fruits.

Most of them also probably also left feeling very lethargic, unfocused and wanting wanting a nap.

I have to run but will be back to write more on the myths of healthy eating. Meanwhile, consider getting, reading and implementing William Davis MD's new book Wheat Belly featured on my sidebar. I'll also be thinking about what I'd change about this kids lunch at the White House to make it truly more healthy, slimming and energizing.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

COMPLEMENTARIANISM is a theological view held by some in Christianity and other world religions, such as Islam,[1] that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, religious leadership, and elsewhere. The word ‘'complementary’' and its cognates are currently used to denote this view. For those whose complementarian view is biblically-prescribed, these separate roles preclude women from specific functions of ministry within the Church.[2] It assigns leadership roles to men and support roles to women, based on certain biblical passages. One of its precepts is that while women may assist in the decision making process, the ultimate authority for the decision is the purview of the male in marriage, courtship, and in the polity of churches subscribing to this view.

I TOTALLY SUBSCRIBE TO THIS VIEW and think it enhances our God-given roles and talents and increases our capacity for sustained fulfillment and joy in life whether we're female or male. The above conversation is well worth listening to if you're interested.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

IT WAS EASY TO SEE THE TERRIBLE FIRE SEASON COMING, EVEN THIS SPRING WITH SO LITTLE SNOW ACCUMULATION LAST WINTER IN THE WEST. I've lived through many of these seasons and mercifully decided to give my lungs a break this year. My heart goes out to those in harms way and others who suffer with effects of this toxic smoke. It won't be much better until the snow flies and who knows when that will be. UPDATE ON WESTERN FIRES.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

FORGET THE INSULTS TO CONSERVATIVES AND THE GOP. I can't imagine that the mostly black audiences in Joe Biden's latest and greatest new hit single---They gonna put y'all in Chains---aren't totally insulted and turned off by his outrageous remarks. Biden talked down to these people like a superior demogogue would talk to people he considers beneath himself. He was talking to the little people to scare them.

He should be horrified not only at these remarks but the attitude underlying them. Ashamed.

We all know the truth is that the only chains seeking to enslave our citizens today is the bondage of government entitlements fostering long term dependency which Joe Biden seeks to increase.

WHILE THE MID-SECTION OF THE COUNTRY SWELTERS DAY AFTER DAY, the northern tier and strip down through Tennessee and Mississippi is being spared at the moment. It's cooler here in TN than in Jackson Hole at the moment.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

DANGEROUS AIR QUALITY FOR ALLERGY SUFFERERS, RESPIRATORY AND HEART CONDITIONS

IT'S ONE OF THE WORST FIRE AND SMOKE YEARS SINCE 1988 and the Great Yellowstone fires which I lived through for months. Fires have proliferated all over the West.

For the past 10 years, the spread of the Pine Beetle blight has caused more standing dead timber and with drought conditions for many years, there have been more and more forest fires with lethal, long-term smoky conditions. I simply did not want to put my respiratory system through another round this year. God, I hated to leave JH early, but every time I talk with friends they say it's really bad. And today's webcam--above---pic bears this out.

Smoky conditions will continue to prevail until the snow falls sometimes in September.

Meanwhile, I've loved being in East Tennessee this past week where it's actually cooler than Jackson during the day, though more humid. The summer heat spell has ended and it's a joy to be back where Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina come together in the mountains while the smoke of the West grinds on. My lungs thank me and my skin relishes the humidity.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ALAN IS SAYING? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ALAN IS SAYING. I like this man's basis in reality. This female interviewer doesn't have a clue. Not a clue. Not. One. Clue.

Voters had better get a clue or else reality in the next couple of years is going to have very sharp teeth. President Obama wants to feed voters pablum based on fear and instant (government) gratification. Conservatives, including Simpson, are looking at the longer-term reality and the overwhelming---OVERWHELMING---unsustainability of future entitlement and pension funds/supply.

Reality belongs to no political party or ideology. It just IS. And will unfold and unwind as it can no longer be pushed aside in favor of unsustainable hope and government economic fairy tales. Those who survive what's coming will no longer deny the concept of personal responsibilty in their political and economic futures.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

WORSE YET, since good and evil in this world commonly inhabit not only the same field but even the same individual human beings—since, that is, there are no unqualified good guys any more than there are any unqualified bad guys—-the only result of a truly dedicated campaign to get rid of evil will be the abolition of literally everybody.

— Robert Farrar Capon

God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers. The pain and falleness of humanity have entered into his heart. Through the prism of my tears I have seen a suffering God...

And great mystery: to redeem our brokenness and lovelessness the God who suffers with us did not strike some mighty blow of power but sent his beloved son to suffer like us, through his suffering to redeem us from suffering and evil.

Mitt Romney did something that a lot of supposed wise men said he wouldn’t — pick a vice presidential candidate who is more charismatic than he. In choosing Paul Ryan, Romney took the risk he would be outshone, but he did America a favor. He selected the brightest young politician we have.

He also underscored his best line of the campaign so far, “It’s the economy – and we’re not stupid!” No one in Congress has thought more creatively or acted with more determination to solve the great economic problems we face than Ryan. He has virtually stood alone among higher elected officials in the battle for serious entitlement reform, being criticized by none other than Newt Gingrich for recommending remedies that were, if anything, too mild for the monumental fiscal crisis confronting us. But at least Ryan has tried to do something about it. Few others have had the courage to attempt it.

Through nominating Ryan, Romney has signaled that his campaign is going to be about the economy, the economy, and, yes, you guessed it, the economy (with healthcare thrown in as an aspect of the economy). It is not going to be about immigration, marriage, the legalization of marijuana, whether candidates cause cancer, who has a dog on his car, or even who was born where. It’s going to be about the one thing America is obsessed with, the one thing that if we don’t correct nothing else is possible…. Okay, I won’t say it again, but you certainly know.

THE LATEST IN DRONES. BTW there is no sound to this one. MEANWHILE BELOW, Russian Olympic swimmers give an almost flawless performance to Michael Jackson music.
FINALLY, THIS HERE WOMAN, 91, TEARS IT UP on the track. H/T and story.

(Appendix: This is where Tolkien’s ring is such a powerful illustration of sin. From the moment a person puts that ring on his finger, the ring is out to dominate and to destroy him. The ring has a mind of its own, a mind that is bent on destruction. The ring will be satisfied only when it has ensured that the ringbearer is overcome, overwhelmed, and destroyed. All of its promises merely lead to a greater kind of enslavement that leads toward death.)

Over and over again, we see that sin and Satan promise us everything---to be as gods---and only delivers heartache upon heartache. Sin wants to incapacitate and destroy us. Only the Cross of Christ begins to take us out of bondage and into the freedom of serving God through Jesus Christ.

Friday, August 3, 2012

IT'S SAFE TO SAY THAT GABBY'S PREPARATION FOR THE LONDON OLYMPICS went much, much further and deeper than physical and even emotional readiness. Gabby is steeped in God's Grace because she is constantly in the God's Word, in individual as well as community prayer. She has an incredible talent which she is using for God's Glory and the better and inspiration of many other people.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

RAHM EMANUEL'S INSISTENCE that Chick-fil-A bow to the icon of gay marriage had (a polarizing) effect, at least upon some. Chick-fil-A is not about gay marriage or Christianity at all, any more than the incident of William Tell was about a hat. It’s about power. It is morphing into an overt test of whether the cultural elite can have its way. The problem with National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day is that it constitutes an act of open defiance by manifesting all too publicly the contempt that a fairly large segment of the population has for shibboleths of political correctness.
---Richard Fernandez @ Pajamas Media

APPRECIATION DAY Wednesday was just another big ordinary, dull day at Chik-fil-A, by Fr. Dwight Longenecker:

Yesterday’s Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day was the sort of ‘revolt’ this country needs, but it was even better than the non violent revolutions and peaceful protests which have changed the world because it was so ordinary. It was just plain, ordinary Americans getting in their cars and doing a plain, ordinary American thing: going out for lunch to a fast food joint. It was just plain, ordinary Americans doing something plain and ordinary, but positive and joyful and good. In buying an ordinary tasty chicken sandwich at their corner fast food emporium ordinary Americans were expressing the wish to be left alone to be ordinary Americans.

There were no protest signs (except from a few glum pro-gays who said we were eating ‘hate’ sandwiches) There were no noisy, angry scenes. Folks in the drive through lines did not honk their horns or proclaim their Christianity with bullhorns. There were no statements against homosexuals or homosexuality. (Indeed, the only statement put out by Chick-Fil-A affirmed their commitment to serve and employ all people equally without notice of race, gender, age or sexual orientation.) The brilliance of the event that it used the network of a nationwide fast food chain as the foundation for a visible, peaceful, creative nationwide statement.

There was no bullying, no hateful anti-homosexual loud mouthed preachers. This grace, patience gentleness and community good humor contrasted with the ugly and spiteful comments from the ‘other side’. Nobody wished their enemies to get cancer the way ‘comedian’ Roseanne Barr proclaimed. Nobody was using back room political and financial pressure to bully the majority of Americans the way mayors of Boston, DC and Chicago were doing. For all the talk of the traditional marriage supporters being full of hate, there was not hatred apparent. It was just ordinary suburban Americans sticking up for their way of life by buying a chicken sandwich with their friends and neighbors. These were not scary people like the folks from Westboro Baptist who tote guns and hate homos. They were the folks next door.

Yesterday’s demonstration was a truly American form of revolution. Where else could it happen but the USA?

Kiss In at various Chik locations. I wonder if these drama queens really think outlandish behavior, hatefulness and emotion demands will help their cause? Principled people---especially those who believe in freedom of politically incorrect speech and freedom of religion---don't bend to tantrums and dramatic outbursts. Still these immature people will have to find it out for themselves.

MEANWHILE IN TUCSON WEDNESDAY, this misguided (former) CFO at Vante Corporation made a video of himself bullying a Chik-fil-A drive-up window employee and promptly got fired. Where do these people get the idea that CEO Dan Cathy's belief in the principles of the Bible and holding to the concept of marriage being between one man and one woman is hateful? It's simply astounding and embarrassing:

About Me

I'm a southern Christian conservative with a degree in civil & environmental engineering and a passion for the truth of God's Word, writing, hiking, investing, fly fishing, cooking and the great outdoors. My favorite tech invention = spellcheck. There are no such things as rights without responsibility, a free lunch, cheap grace, man-made climate change, successful government engineering, or figuring out when life begins. We're hurling towards the abyss with only One Life-Line: it's not botox, a "living" Constitution, celebrity president, or making nice with Iran. Meanwhile, God gave us His Word, His Son, Grace Upon Grace, family/friends and the greatest country in the world to live--if we can keep it. E-mail: webutante07 at gmail dot com. Thanks for coming by.

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine!